Team HRC’s confidence levels rising for Mantova triple header
Both reigning MXGP world champion Tim Gajser and exciting Honda CRF450RW rookie Mitch Evans are looking forward to this third triple header, which is taking place at the sandy Mantova circuit in northern Italy. With races on Sunday 27th and Wednesday 30th September and then finally on October 4th, the format is becoming familiar for Team HRC but everyone is approaching these events with increasing optimism after the results in Faenza last time out.
For Gajser, his six race wins head the class, and he now sits just seven points away from a deserved championship lead. His aim in Mantova will be to continue to show the speed which has seen dominate large portions of the 2020 season races, but to do so over both motos. If he is able to do that, then he’ll be hopeful of leaving the Italy, after the 11th round of the series with the red plate.
Before we returned to MXGP racing in Latvia, Evans’ aim was to improve at every event, and over the course of the past six rounds, he has done exactly that. He left Faenza having gone eighth, seventh and then sixth overall and he heads into Mantova with buoyed confidence, as well as with the knowledge that he is extremely good on this sandy terrain. In the Internazionali D’Italia race in February, the Australian rider won the super-final at this very track and while the weather should be a lot different, the circuit won’t have changed too much. He is now back to full fitness after his shoulder injury and having placed fourth in a couple of races in Faenza, he’ll be looking to place even higher in the six motos spread over seven days.
Like the rounds since the restart, all the MXGP action will take place all on one day with a 20 minute free practice leading straight into 25 minutes of timed practice. These results will then decide the gate pick for the races that take place the same afternoon.
Tim Gajser 243
From Faenza I went straight home to Slovenia, where I’ve been for about 10 days now. I’ve been training and getting ready for Mantova and another triple header race which I’m going to approach the same way as the previous events in Latvia and Faenza. We have three races in a week and I just want to give my best, try to be consistent and get good starts and that’s what I’ve been working on a lot in my training sessions. As a track, I like Mantova and I’ve had some good and bad memories from that place but I focus on the positive times and I want to create more of those good memories this week.
Mitch Evans 43
After Faenza we went down to Rome and did a bit of riding in that area, before taking a few days off last weekend, relaxing a bit and recovering. I’m feeling good and looking forward to Mantova now though and I want to continue my improvement by starting a bit more aggressively and riding up the front with the top guys right from the first race. I’m feeling confident as last time I was there, I won the preseason race and I feel like the track suits me well and every time I’ve gone there, I’ve had good rides so looking forward to carrying on from where I left off racing. Should be a good week and I can’t wait to get started.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
It’s strange to have six races in a row in Italy but it does allow us to work well because Mitch has been able to stay with us and Tim isn’t too far away either. Travelling around Europe can still be difficult so it is good that we don’t have to worry about those problems for these next three races. As a team, we are excited to start the racing as we are confident that both riders can go out there and get on the podium and win races. Tim has shown the speed to win throughout this season, he just needs to put it together in both motos and Mitch is getting better and better, and we know how well he rode in the event in February. These are exciting times for Team HRC.
Rider standings
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Location Information
Viale Learco Guerra, 13m, 46100 Mantova MN, Italy - View in Google Maps
